ALTHOUGH SANTA CLARA COUNTY was one of the first in the nation to create a behavioral health court, criminal offenders with mental health and drug problems sit in jail for months before getting treatment. That could change this week.
County officials on Monday launched a pilot program with a separate court calendar that could fast-track defendants for mental health treatment as early as their arraignment hearing. This program could help reduce the time people sit in jail as they await guilty plea outcomes before options such as jail diversion or Mental Health Treatment Court become available.
If a defendant meets the criteria at an arraignment hearing, the person has a behavioral health screening in jail and proceeds to another hearing where the court will work out a plan to bring them earlier access to mental health services or release them from jail into a treatment program. Those could range from inpatient crisis residential programs with wrap-around care, to referrals for therapists or outpatient therapy groups.
To keep a handle on the caseloads, officials are capping the pilot program at 10 defendants per week.
Better collaboration
The program was created through a unique division of the Public Defender’s Office set up to connect defendants with attorneys shortly after their arrest: the pre-arraignment review and representation unit. Meghan Piano, one of that unit’s supervising attorneys, said she’s waited 16 years to see a program like this come together.
“All of this work would not only reduce incarceration for our most vulnerable client base, but it would also protect public safety by focusing on individual stabilization as the person transitions back into the community,” Piano told San José Spotlight.
It’s hard to tell what the program’s impact will be, Piano said. Santa Clara County has long been under-resourced. But she added the goal is to catch someone earlier in the court process and stabilize them quicker and get them back into the community.
“We are preventing future recidivism and protecting public safety, and hopefully reducing the need for locked inpatient facilities,” she said.
It’s been a rare point of alignment between the public defender and district attorney’s offices.
“We led the collaboration with the courts and public defenders to create this new calendar,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen told San José Spotlight. “We support early mental health assessment of criminal defendants to figure out the right thing to do for them and the community.”
A felony case typically takes about six to nine months to conclude before reaching the Mental Health Treatment Court. Similarly, a felony defendant who successfully motions for mental health diversion still waits about five to six months to obtain that diversion grant, according to a May county report outlining the pilot program.
Candidates for the new court calendar can include someone with a severe mental health episode who’s never received a diagnosis. But it could also include someone who’s already in the Mental Health Treatment Court system but is off their medication and is getting rearrested, Piano said.
“The goal would be to gather all of the cases and all of the resources in one place to advance the case back to the Mental Health Treatment Court,” she told San José Spotlight.
Commitment to treatment
In 1994, Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley founded the county’s drug court, taking a less combative approach to the courtroom by combining close judicial oversight with intensive supervision and treatment services in lieu of jail. The program became a national model, inspiring similar programs that have blossomed throughout California. In 1999, Manley launched the county’s similarly-modeled Behavioral Health Court.
“Our court and court leadership continue to be very proactive with the support of our justice partners in placing mentally ill individuals in treatment as early as possible and this pilot project is another example of those efforts,” Manley told San José Spotlight.
County Supervisors Susan Ellenberg and Otto Lee declared mental illness and substance use disorder a public health crisis in 2022. In doing so, they formally requested a coordinated county response to a record increase in suicides and drug overdoses.
“This shift from post-plea to pre-arraignment court will reduce needless and costly incarceration and ensure people get help when they need it most,” Lee told San José Spotlight. “This commitment to compassion and rehabilitation is long overdue.”
“This program is the type of forward-looking initiative that benefits both the community and those impacted by mental health illness and substance use disorders.” Supervisor Susan Ellenberg
There are few experiences more anxiety-inducing than getting wrapped up in the criminal justice system — especially when struggling with behavioral health issues, Ellenberg said.
“This program is the type of forward-looking initiative that benefits both the community and those impacted by mental health illness and substance use disorders,” she told San José Spotlight.
Kathy Burden, who facilitates the NAMI Santa Clara County jail support group, lauded the county’s move toward treatment over incarceration, but stressed the need for inpatient care.
“What doesn’t work is a really unsupervised outpatient situation,” Burden told San José Spotlight. “Most in jail with serious mental health issues like schizophrenia need to get care in an inpatient environment so they can stabilize before stepping down into less restrictive settings. Otherwise the cycle could repeat. Outpatient in a board and care isn’t overly helpful to many with severe schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. They need a safe, supervised environment so they can be stabilized first. That’s what is missing.”
The case for more behavioral health professionals
Burden said there isn’t enough professional supervision in behavioral health and housing programs.
“We need extremely supportive housing with social workers and mental health professionals onsite,” she said.
The program comes as multiple unfunded mental health mandates need to be put in place throughout Santa Clara County such as CARE Court, a voluntary court-ordered treatment program for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
“I cannot say yet how it will interact with CARE Court or any other potentially new court,” Piano told San José Spotlight. “What I can say is that it will hopefully be a fast track to the mental health treatment courts for those who are deemed eligible to participate.”
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.